ANTHRAX's CHARLIE BENANTE Slams Internet Haters

January 9, 2016

On Friday, January 8, John Doan of MusicFrenzy.net conducted an interview with ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante. You can now listen to the chat at this location .

Speaking about the way social media has affected the way bands gauge the fan response to their music, Benante said: "What I find nowadays, because of a little thing on the Internet called comments that people feel that they could comment on anything, and they've become critics, with no experience whatsoever, and all of a sudden it's out there."

He continued: "I was just seeing something about… TOOL were playing last night in San Francisco, and I just saw some thing for a little newsblurb, and then I made the mistake of just scrolling down and seeing comments, and [it was] just fucking negativity like you wouldn't believe. 'Fuck these guys! How could they play the same…?' It's, like, 'Jesus Christ, man!'

"These are the people who will never do anything, musically in their life, or whatever. And they just feel the need that… 'I need to voice my opinion about this, how much I fucking hate this.' And it's just like… I just wish… Like I said one time, I wish we could reverse it, and some of us can go to their place, where they work, and let's just get a group of people and just comment on their fucking day."

Benante went on to say: "It just bothers me, because no one knows the work or time, effort and just everything that goes into making something. It's, like, I don't take this lightly whatsoever, and it really bothers me when I have to hear or I have to see… That's why I don't read comments, really — 'cause I don't dig it. I don't care if it's a great comment, I don't care if it's a bad comment. I try to avoid all of them, because… You know, at the end of the day, we do our best at what we do, and when you read something that says, 'Ehh, I'm not feeling it.' It's, like, 'Okay. What else could we have done to make you 'feel' it?' You know?"

ANTHRAX's long-awaited new album, "For All Kings", which will be released on February 26, 2016 via Nuclear Blast in Europe and Megaforce in the U.S.

Find more on Anthrax

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).